Sometimes Things Happen
by BewareTheDragon1
Summary: Ghost Magics AU - Oneshots. Sure, Vincent is a part of the family now, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't get up to mischief. And it's not always his fault. Honest.
1. Sometimes Things Happen

**Warning! This story makes little to no sense to those who have not read A Second Chance! I highly suggest you read that now!**

With that out of the way, I will now give a brief overview of the happenings of the AU this is placed in.

 **Yes. This is an AU.**

 **There is magic, but only supernatural creatures can use it.**

 **The Purple Guy is named Vincent Tollini in this AU. Not William Afton/Dave Miller.**

 **Mike is the owner of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, and it is set in 2010+**

 **Mangle is a female. The Puppet is genderless, but the spirit inside is a woman.**

 **The spirits are no longer children. They've grown up.**

 **Timeline:**

1955: Fredbear's Family Diner opens, owned by a man named Frederick Beyer. The location has one mascot: a large yellow bear by the name of Fredbear.

1960: Vincent Tollini is born.

1965: Marcus Tollini is born. A car crash occurs, killing both of Vincent's parents. Vincent and Marcus wind up in an orphanage.

1967: The orphanage is shut down, due to horrible management. Two new characters are added to Fredbear's Family Diner. One is Bonnie, a golden bunny played by Bonita Beyer, Frederick's wife; the other is a large marionette.

1978: Vincent Tollini performs a drug run in order to pay for his brother's school. The location is the parking lot of Fredbear's Family Diner. Vincent accidentally kills a little girl who was in the parking lot at the time, her spirit moving to the Marionette. The only witness is Frederick Beyer. Fredbear's is shut down due to this tragedy, and a larger company buys the rights. Frederick Beyer dies soon after. Vincent becomes a target of the bizarre entity known as Nightmare.

1980: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza opens for the first time. Vincent Tollini takes a job there, quickly rising to the position of head of security.

1983: Vincent Tollini is contracted to shut down Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. He attempts to do so by killing five children. These children haunt the five animatronic characters, being Freddy, Bonnie, Foxy, Chica, and Fredbear. Mike Schmidt becomes the first night guard to stay for a week, as he has befriended the haunted animatronics. A springlock malfunction occurs, forcing the place to shut down.

1987: Freddy Fazbear's is reopened at a revamped location. Mike Schmidt quickly becomes the night guard again, then is promoted to engineer. In the course of Mike's shift, five more children are killed in an attempt to shut the location down. These children take control of Toy Freddy, Toy Chica, Toy Bonnie, Balloon Boy, and the Mangle. Jeremy Fitzgerald, a rich adrenaline junkie, takes over the night shift after Mike is promoted, and hides from the animatronics. After his sixth night, Jeremy is moved to the day shift. Jeremy is then the victim of a glitch in the Mangle's system, causing the fox to remove his frontal lobe. Jeremy survives, and Fritz takes the fall for the incident. The hospital Jeremy was in experienced a power outage soon after, and Jeremy died. Jeremy left his surprising fortune to Mike Schmidt.

1993: The events of FNaF 1. Not much special. Freddy Fazbear's closes.

1994: Vincent Tollini loses everything, and goes to the closed pizzeria to destroy it. He dismantles the animatronics, only to be trapped by the spirits of the children. He climbs into a springlock suit, causing it to kill him.

2007: Mike Schmidt, now the owner of Fazbear Entertainment and most of the animatronics, locates Fazbear's Fright. He survives six nights against Springtrap, and the Puppet arrives to assist him. The Puppet traps Springtrap, and Springtrap accidentally causes a fire. The Puppet, Fredbear, Mike, and Springtrap leave the building, with Springtrap offline. Mike asks the Puppet to heal Springtrap.

2010: The events of A Second Chance. Go read that if you haven't, otherwise nothing will make sense.

 **For those of you who have read A Second Chance, welcome back!**

 **Here are some things you can expect: More Vincent, more Nightmare, more shadow brothers, more Nighmares, more Nightmare, more animatronics, more humor, more Nightmare! (Send help. Please. He's holding me hostage.)**

Now then, read on!


	2. Exotic Butters

**Canon.**

 **After A Second Chance**

 **WARNING! This chapter contains spoilers from Sister Location! If you do not know both endings yet, please go find out!**

* * *

"Hey Mike, got the newspaper!" Vincent announced, waving the roll of paper in the air and walking into Mike's office.

Michael Schmidt, the owner of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza and multimillionaire, looked up from his desk and sighed. "Vince, how many times have I told you-"

"Yeah, yeah, don't barge in on you when you're working." Vincent waved the paper dismissively, then opened it. "Lessee… arcade going bankrupt, Slenderman sightings in the woods… ooh, the weekly 'Florida Man –insert verb here- -insert noun here-' is pretty good. Florida man bites the head off alligator."

"None of those are real." Mike said, looking back at his paperwork and writing in a figure.

"I know right. Arcades don't go bankrupt." Vincent shook his head. "The things they try to get you to believe…"

"Just give me the paper…" Mike rolled his eyes.

"Right." Vincent set the paper down on Mike's desk and took a seat in the chair opposite his employer. "So, what's the latest news?"

"Let me read it first." The older man snatched the newspaper and spread it out. "Armory Arcade losing business after malfunction. Not much we can do there. Apple tablets skyrocketing in popularity. Fritz'll be ecstatic. He sold them the patent, after all. What's this one…"

"Do you just read everything out loud?" Vincent asked impatiently.

"Vincent." Mike gave the grey-eyed man a glare. "You are the one who asked me to tell you what there was."

"Gotcha. Continue." Vincent nodded, rocking in his seat.

"Good." Mike turned his attention back to the newspaper. After a moment of scanning the paper, he dropped it to his desk. "Tell Percy I'll be gone for a week. There're some things I need to attend to."

Mike grabbed his coat and put it on quickly, walking out of the building without another word. Vincent watched him leave with a puzzled expression, then picked up the newspaper and flipped it around. The most prominent article was about some robotics company.

 _After extensive research, Circus Baby's Pizza World owner William Afton has announced that his business will be reopening. Afton says, "I have heard about the revitalization of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, and as a long-time fan I feel that they would benefit from a little competition."_

 _Afton then went on to say that, while some of his characters are known to malfunction, such a thing hasn't happened in a long time. The public looks forward to meeting Baby, Ballora, Freddy, and Foxy again._

Vincent snorted. This goon just up and stole two of the names of the animatronics from Freddy's. That was probably why Mike had freaked out and left.

"Still… why would he care about Afton Robotics…?"

* * *

The elevator was far from a comfortable ride. It was bumpy, horribly ventilated, and had next to no lighting. Every little jolt caused the fan in the ceiling to stutter, and the shadows to dance around the circular chamber. Mike was far from claustrophobic, but someone who was would probably have a hell of a time getting down to the bottom. That wasn't even to mention the dinky little touchscreen device that he had been given. It was supposedly his guide through this job.

So it surprised Mike when the handheld device spoke.

"Welcome to your first day in an exciting new career! Whether you were approached at a job fair, read our ad in screws, bolts, and hairpins, or if this is the result of a dare; we welcome you!" The mechanical voice happily spouted. "I will be your personal guide to help you get started. I am a model five of the Handyman's Robotics and Unit Repair System, but you can call me Handyunit! Your new career promises challenge, intrigue, and endless janitorial opportunities!"

Mike flat out burst into laughter. It was obvious that this was just like the night shift at the old Fazbear's Pizzeria, the only thing that remained was to see how it would play out.

"Please, enter your name as seen above the keypad." The little device in Mike's hand activated, the screen showing a flickering keyboard. "This cannot be changed later, so please be careful!"

The engineer who had given Handy to Mike had put a piece of tape with Mike's name on it above the touchscreen, making it blatantly obvious that while the device belonged to Mike for now, it probably would find a new owner very soon.

After a moment of hesitation in order to read the letters properly, Mike tapped the M key. The entire character limit immediately filled up, preventing the man from entering any other letters.

"It seems that you had some trouble with the keypad. I see what you were trying to type, and I will autocorrect it for you. One moment." The device whirred for a fraction of a second. "Welcome:" the characters resolved themselves. "Eggs Benedict!"

Mike just stared at the screen for a few moments and sighed. Whoever designed it was clearly no Fritz Smith.

The alarms in the elevator went off for a few moments, then went silent again. Mike just sighed again and looked around at the capsule. On his left was a poster of Baby, who he recognized from the ad in the newspaper, but another poster was on his right, holding a ballerina character that he didn't know the name of.

With a jolt, the elevator came to a stop, and a cheery jingle began playing.

"You can now open the elevator using that bright, red, and obvious button. Let's get to work!" Handy said, before shutting off.

Mike pressed the button and stared at the area in front of him. It was roped off with police tape, with a small vent at the bottom that was just large enough for him to crawl through. He sighed and crouched down, slowly making his way through the ventilation shaft.

It didn't take long for Handy to start talking again. "Allow me to fill this somewhat frightening silence with some lighthearted banter! Due to the massive success, and even more so the unfortunate closing, of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, it was clear that the stage was set, no pun intended, for another contender in children's entertainment. Unlike most entertainment venues, our robotic entertainers are rented out for private parties during the day, and it's your job to get the robots back in proper working order before the following morning."

"Perfect." Mike muttered, reaching the end of the vent and standing up. This room was filled with all sorts of mechanical parts, endoskeleton heads, and animatronic masks. The masks were creepily human, being just artificial enough to be extremely unnerving.

"You are now in the primary control module. It's actually a crawlspace between the two front showrooms. Now let's get started with your daily tasks!" Handy happily chattered. "View the window to your left. This is the Ballora gallery party room and dance studio, encouraging kids to get fit, and enjoy pizza! Let's turn on the light, and see if Ballora is onstage. Press the blue button on the elevated keypad to your left."

A control panel to Mike's left lit up, and he pressed the top button, a blue lighted plate with a sun icon. The area behind the window became visible, revealing a stage with nothing on it.

"Uh oh! It looks like Ballora doesn't feel like dancing. Let's give her some motivation! Press the red button now to administer a controlled shock. Maybe that will put the spring back in her step!"

Mike stared at the control panel, then at the device in his hands, then back again. He could already tell that this job would be hell.

* * *

"Circus Baby had a busy day today! Let's check the light, and make sure she's in proper working order!" Handy instructed.

"Kinda liked the 'angsty teen' voice more. At least that wasn't so blindly cheerful." Mike muttered. Pressing the light button. The Circus Gallery was not his favorite place in this facility, mostly because he had yet to see its inhabitant.

As expected, Baby was missing.

"Oh Circus Baby! We aren't here to play hide and seek! Let's encourage Baby to come out of hiding with a controlled shock."

Mike reluctantly pressed the red button, expecting a flash of light to greet him, but nothing happened.

"Let's try another controlled shock." Handy said, seemingly oblivious.

Again, nothing happened when Mike pressed the button.

"There appears to be a power malfunction that is affecting our ability to properly motivate Baby. Please stand by, while I reboot the system. I will be offline momentarily during this process. Various other systems may be offline as well, such as security doors, vent locks, and oxygen. Commencing system restart."

The entire room went dark, down to the strange monitoring devices on the panel in front of Mike.

A mechanical voice began to speak. "Motion trigger, entry way vent. Funtime Auditorium maintenance vent opened. Ballora Gallery maintenance vent opened."

Everything was silent, save the slow but regular sound of something walking. A feminine voice spoke, seemingly right next to Mike's ear.

"I don't recognize you. You are new." She –Mike assumed it was Baby due to his current location- said. "I remember this… scenario… however. It's a strange thing to want to do, to come here. I'm curious to what events would make a person to want to spend their nights in a place like this. Willingly. Maybe curiosity… maybe ignorance."

"Not quite…" Mike muttered under his breath, not moving a muscle.

"There is a space under the desk. Someone before you crafted it into a hiding place, and it worked for him. I recommend that you hurry, though." Baby's voice moved closer to his ear. "You will be safe there."

The voice moved away a bit. "Just try not to make eye contact. It will be over soon. They will lose interest."

Mike let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. This was the part he had expected from the beginning, where the animatronics would try to kill him. It was odd though. Before, when the animatronics tried to kill him, almost all of them were out for his blood. True, they never got it, but that didn't change the facts. Evidently Baby was free of the bloodlust the others might share.

He quickly scrambled under the desk, grabbing a metal plate and pulling it across so that the only openings were the holes in the corroded steel. He looked out through one of the jagged holes, waiting with bated breath for the threat to appear.

Footsteps echoed through the vent system, slowly coming closer and closer. Metal rang against metal, betraying the nature of the walkers.

 _"Hello in there…?"_

Mike looked around through the hole, then backed away from the steel plate quickly. Baby had said to avoid eye contact, so that probably goaded them on.

Movement flashed across one of the holes in the metal plate.

 _"Someone is inside."_

 _"Is it the same person?"_

Mike scanned the metal plate quickly, trying to look at all of the holes at once. Metal began to tap against metal, and the rusty metal cover vibrated a bit.

Then Mike came face to face with an eye.

He quickly looked away, trying to find something, anything else to look at. He was alerted to movement by the metal plate slowly sliding away from the desk.

Mike quickly snatched the edge of the plate, holding on to it like it was his only lifeline. He was stronger than most people, but these creatures had a mechanical power that was unstoppable. He could only hope to slow them.

There was inaudible whispering between the mechanical attackers, and the pulling grew stronger. It took all of Mike's strength to keep them from ripping the metal plate off of the desk entirely.

 _"She's watching us."_

 _"We have to leave now."_

Mike breathed out in relief. They were leaving.

 _"We'll see you again soon…"_

Mike sat there in silence for a good while, trying to mentally process what had just happened. Something, no, some _things_ had tried to kill him, and the only reason he was still alive was because he had relied upon a potentially killer animatronic.

"When your guide comes back online, he is going to tell you that he was unsuccessful. That you must restart the system manually." Baby spoke suddenly, scaring Mike. "He is then going to tell you that you must crawl through Ballora Gallery as fast as possible to reach the breaker room. If you follow his instructions, you will die. Ballora will not return to her stage any more." Baby's voice quieted to a whisper. "She will catch you." Baby's voice turned normal once more. "When you crawl through Ballora's gallery, go slowly. She cannot see you, and can only listen for your movement. When you hear her music become louder she is near, and listening for you. Wait, and be still…"

Handy spoke suddenly, startling Mike nearly as much as Baby's voice had. "Thank you for your patience. It seems that the power system cannot be restarted automatically. You will need to restart the power system manually. Please return to the primary control module."

Mike slid the metal plate open, blinking as light suddenly turned on. He sighed. "I'm not getting paid enough for this."

* * *

"Welcome back to your last day on the job. That is, the last day of your first week!" Handy happily said. "Some of the most valued qualities that we like to see in new employees are determination, fearlessness, and a genuine disregard for instinctive self-preservation! You've earned your weekly bonus which will be given to you in the form of a delightful gift basket, the cost of which will be taken out of your next paycheck. These gift baskets contain fruit, nuts, flowers, and of course the ever popular cash basket! Using the keypad, please enter the first few letters of the gift basket you would like to receive!"

"This better be worth it…" Mike muttered, looking at the handheld device and shaking his head.

Over the past couple nights he had snuck past a blind ballerina, been taunted by a bear with a voice changer, performed maintenance on that same bear and his irritating hand puppet, and been stuck in a spring lock suit. The only reason he had survived was because of his expertise with the archaic devices; he had designed a much safer version, after all.

Oddities had also sprung up. Baby had told him about a little girl she had been forced to kidnap, Funtime Freddy had a keycard stuck in his endoskeleton, and Ballora had been 'scooped' right before his eyes while Baby talked about playing pretend. Something wasn't right.

Since the keypad didn't work anyways, Mike just typed in three letters at random, causing the keypad to fill in the rest of the characters anyways.

"It seems you had some trouble with the keypad. I see what you were trying to type, and I will autocorrect it for you. Thank you for selecting…" Handy was silent for a moment while the processor went haywire. "Exotic Butters!"

"Well, better than some options, I suppose." Mike mumbled, putting the keypad away.

"Just be aware, there are still two technicians on the site today." Handy continued. "Try to avoid interfering with their work if possible. Also, feel free to ask them why they are still there, and encourage them to go home!"

The elevator hit the bottom of the shaft, and Mike hit the red button to open the doors. He squeezed himself into the ventilation shaft and crawled through it to the primary control module. The security system noted his entry as per usual, but there wasn't anything else going on.

"Let's check on Ballora, to make sure she's on her stage!"

Mike pressed the blue button, and the sight that greeted him was far from what he had expected.

There was a man hanging from electrical wires.

The light flickered off and Mike took a deep breath. He was no stranger to gruesome sights, what with Springtrap having tormented him for a week, but a dead body is never a welcome sight.

"Great! Now let's check on Funtime Foxy."

Now Mike was hesitant to press the button. He did so anyways and was greeted by another corpse. It was certainly dead. No person could survive like that.

"Great! It looks like everything is as it should be in Funtime Auditorium. Your task today will be more maintenance work. Circus Baby had a rough day, and is in need of repair! You will be required to reach the parts and service room by once again sneaking through Funtime Auditorium. As always, please proceed with caution."

Mike hesitated, then continued through the vent. He didn't have all that much choice in the matter anyways. Funtime Foxy was probably not a problem though, as it activated at the sight of motion, and he could get across the room in the dark.

Not that Foxy was in the room. It was completely absent.

He reached the parts and service room with no problems, and was greeted by the sight of Baby sitting in a rather familiar pose.

"Great job, reaching parts and service. Circus Baby has been deactivated for an unknown reason, it is your job to make sure she is structurally stable, and secured to the conveyor. Our technicians will take it from ther-" _Fzzsh!_

"Can you hear me?"

Mike's eyes widened. It seemed that Handy had broken, and Baby had taken over. "Yes."

"I'm pretending." Baby explained quietly. "Remember how I said I could pretend? The cameras are watching. I must be careful not to move. Something bad happened yesterday. Something bad always happens. I don't want it to happen again. There is something bad… inside of me. I'm broken. I can't be fixed. I'm going to be taken to the scooping room soon.

"But that still won't fix what's wrong with me. What is bad, is always left behind. Will you help me?"

Baby sounded so distraught, so upset at this. Mike wasn't surprised. Everything he had seen pointed to these animatronics being controlled by sentient AI, making them effectively living beings. The blueprints he had located throughout the facility, however, pointed to a program within each of them that made them kidnap children. "What can I do to help?"

"I want you to save what is good, so the rest can be destroyed, and never recovered." The voice fluctuated a bit. "But you must be careful. Ballora is here. In the room, with us. Ballora will not return to her stage. Ballora will not return to her body.

"You must be careful. You must remain calm, and listen to my voice. There is a button on my cheek. You must find it, and press it."

Mike quickly located and pressed the button, causing a panel on Baby's head to flip out and reveal a number pad.

"There is a passcode that you must enter before you can retrieve me. Enter the code carefully."

Baby quickly rattled off a string of numbers that Mike dutifully and accurately punched into the number pad.

"Good. A hatch should've opened. Take the card that you find inside."

Mike scanned Baby's body and quickly located the hatch on her arm, pulling the card out. "What next?"

"Now you must turn back. I will guide you through Funtime Auditorium so you can reach the scooping room. When you are there, I want you to destroy this body. Put the card into your handheld device, so I can continue to speak to you."

After a moment of hesitation, Mike put the card into the Handyunit.

"Now, press the green button to your left. This will send me to the scooping room."

Mike paused for a moment, then pressed the button. Something moved at the corner of his eye. It looked like it was stepping back from the conveyor belt. The machine was noisy, and slowly transported Baby out of the room.

Baby's voice spoke out of the Handyunit. "You must follow my instructions in Funtime Auditorium. Ballora is going to follow you. She will try to catch you. I will help you avoid her. She will not follow you inside the scooping room. She is afraid. Go back now."

Mike stepped out of the Parts and Service room into complete darkness, his brain working fervently.

Now, he had taken a good look at the layout of this place when he had rebooted the system, and he had memorized the entire location to the best of his ability. There was a very, very good reason that people never used the Funtime Auditorium to enter the scooping room.

But what could he do? Ballora was apparently following him, and Baby was the only one to have helped him stay alive while he was here. There was no way he could get to the primary control module fast enough anyways.

Then again, who said he had to go there?

Digging through his pocket, Mike made a mad dash through Funtime Auditorium. Not to the left as Baby instructed, but to the right.

"Access Granted."

Mike quickly pushed the door open and slammed it shut behind him staring at the keycard in his hand. "Sorry Baby, but I've caught on."

Handy activated. "It would seem that you have accidentally wandered into a restricted area. Due to the sensitive nature of the materials that you may be exposed to here, you will not be allowed to leave until the cleanup crew arrives at six A.M., so hang tight! Rest assured that you will be promptly rescued, fired, and then sent home. Thank you for being an Employee, we hope that your experience has not been as regrettable as ours."

"Do I at least get my exotic butters?" Mike asked with a laugh, putting the Handyunit on the desk in front of him.

"Request noted."

"Seems like I do." Mike shook his head and looked at the room around him. It was extremely familiar, but that was probably because he had been in four other, similar rooms; each with the same purpose as this. To keep something out.

"Why didn't you trust me?" Baby's voice echoed through the room.

"Plenty of reasons. You lied to me. You tried to lure me into a room where I would've been killed. You stuck me in a spring lock suit, and most importantly, I saw you leave your exoskeleton." Mike listed, grabbing the tablet off the desk and flicking through the cameras, coming to a rest on one with a hulking figure in it. "In short, I caught on to your plan. I've had plenty of practice, what with having a mildly insane psychopath living in my home."

The figure in the camera looked up at it. Instead of the plain endoskeleton face it should've had, there was a simple red-nosed mask on its head. It looked like a mish-mash of all the endoskeletons of the animatronics in the facility, with Funtime Foxy's legs, the torso segment of Funtime Freddy, Ballora's head, and what seemed to be Baby's arms and voice chip. Eyes of various colors were all over its body.

"Please…" The animatronic's voice pleaded. "We just want to escape…"

"There are other ways." Mike muttered, taking one of Fritz's creations out of his pocket and plugging it into the power system. "But for now, you're staying out there."

* * *

 _Knock, knock, knock_

Vincent sighed and walked over to the door. "What is it?"

"We have a delivery for one Mike Schmidt." The delivery man in front of him said, holding up a clipboard.

Vincent rolled his eyes and turned around. "Mike! Delivery for you!"

The older man leisurely walked out of his office and made his way to the door. It had been a couple weeks since he got back from Afton Robotics, and he had recovered significantly. He had been exhausted after his return, and slightly jumpy about the animatronics. It was nothing that the Puppet couldn't fix with a bit of therapy, however.

"Yes, how can I help you?" Mike asked.

"Delivery from Afton Robotics." The delivery man handed Mike the clipboard. "Need you to sign here."

"Ah, gotcha." Mike quickly signed the clipboard and handed it back. "Just put the shipment in the basement."

"Yessir, pleasure doing business." The delivery man nodded and headed back to the delivery truck, gesturing to two other men.

"We have a basement?" Vincent asked, then shook his head. "What did you order, anyways?"

"Oh." Mike shrugged, looking at the large crate the men were moving. "Just some exotic butters."

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Exotic butters**

 **Mike's a hardened veteran of the Five Nights formula. He also has to deal with Vincent on a daily basis, he can sense lies, and he has eyes in the back of his head.**

 **We all know that it's not _just_ exotic butters.**

 **Please, review to let me know what you think.**

 **Read on!**


	3. Halloween Havoc

**Canon**

 **After A Second Chance**

* * *

 **Really Vincent, you need to put more effort into it. The blood hardly looks real.**

"I swear to god…" Vincent groaned, slamming his head against the wall. "Do you ever shut up?"

 **I would if you would just listen to me.** Said Nightmare testily. **Now add some real blood to your costume. Go ask Michael, or Percival. They can donate some.**

"Not even gonna ask how you know Percy's full first name." Vincent replied. "And I'm not going to use real blood for a Halloween costume!"

Nightmare paused for a few moments. **All-hallows eve?**

"Whatever you want to call it." Vincent straightened and looked in the mirror. His intention with this costume was to look like the supposed murderer from the missing children's incident. Not super difficult when one brought into account the fact that he was the homicidal maniac who had done the deed. "Why do you care, exactly?"

 **Vincent, for shame! All-hallows eve is the time of year when everyone pays tribute to me! Well, not just me, my kin as well, but my point still stands.** The shadowy entity appeared in the mirror, something it did often when it wanted to spook Vincent. Not to say that it succeeded. Vincent wasn't scared of much anymore. **This is when pesky djinn, dryads, efreeti, and sprites are weakest, and when spirits, dark entities, and demons are strongest. It's wonderful!**

"You lost me." Vincent said, adjusting his collar.

 **It's very simple.** Nightmare's formless body roiled and changed, forming into a three-dimensional shadow. **There are elemental creatures, and there are spiritual creatures. I fall into the latter category, along with the rest of my species and the dead.**

"Still not making any sense whatsoever." Vincent put his security cap on and considered his appearance. His hair had grown quite a bit since his resurrection, but it wasn't nearly as long as it was in his first life, so no ponytail yet.

 **Well, just remember that all bindings on spiritual entities vanish until the dawn of the day after.** Nightmare walked up next to Vincent and changed shape once more, developing defined claws and a visible metal ribcage. **You know, I rather like the mechanical look. Guess I have you to thank for that.**

"You're… welcome?" Vincent was growing increasingly confused. Nightmare rarely held a single topic for long normally, and now it was growing even more scatterbrained. "Alright, with the exception of the blood, how do I look?"

 **Like a security guard. Why is your uniform purple? Could've sworn Michael changed the uniforms to a blue color.** Nightmare grinned in front of the mirror, revealing the needle teeth that came with this form. **Hmm… nobody in my teeth. Well, I'm off to traipse around the city for the night. The others'll pop up at nightfall.**

Nightmare patted Vincent on the shoulder and walked off, closing the door behind itself. Vincent just waved the creature off and returned to his costume. He would need a knife, but that was hardly an issue seeing as he always had five on him. Mike had said to avoid using real weaponry though…

 _Hey Vincent, there's a shadowy thing walking through the pizzeria. It looks kinda like Nightmare._ Spring's mental voice interrupted his thoughts. _Umm… the shadow thing just walked out the door._

Wait. Did that mean…?

Vincent realized with a start that Nightmare had interacted with the physical world, something that was impossible even before it had taken up residence in his head. Nightmare's domain was the mental world, from which it could exert its incredible power to steal someone's soul. It was able to manipulate things in the real world, using its host, or rather, victim, as a conduit; Vincent had seen Nightmare do the impossible before by utilizing his body. Time manipulation was an art that was nigh-impossible to do for more than a fraction of a second, but Nightmare had used enough power to go back a full five seconds. In spite of this incredible amount of magical power, Nightmare was still locked within the mental realm, and had no body to call its own.

And now it had just walked out the door.

The head of security scrambled out of his room and up the stairs. The others were still preparing for a Halloween party. Freddy's would be open all night, acting as a horror attraction for the older guests and as a trick-or-treat palace for the younger ones. They were closed right now, but once night fell they would open again.

"What's the rush Vince?" Asked Jeremy as the pale man rushed by. Jeremy was currently in a corporeal form, but thankfully he wasn't stuck that way anymore. The Puppet had figured out a spell that could swap him back and forth, one that the others could also use. Funnily enough, Shane and Sean, the shadow brothers, couldn't use the spell; they were stuck as incorporeal shadows.

"Nightmare just walked out of the building." Vincent rapidly explained, continuing into the staff lounge.

"Wait, what?" The redhead quickly changed course and followed after him. "How?"

"Hell if I know, that's why I'm going to ask the Puppet." Vincent pushed open the staff lounge door and turned left, following the hallway to the main show area. This room had two stages, a large one situated to the left of the entry door, and a far smaller one located to the right.

On the bigger stage, a large lavender rabbit was jumping up and pinning fake spiders to the ceiling. Bonnie had dressed up nicely, adding fake stitches to his fur to make himself look like one of Doctor Frankenstein's creations. Chica was nowhere to be seen, probably because she was baking cookie in the kitchen, but that didn't mean she was going without a costume; she had prepared a witch costume for herself.

Freddy, on the other hand, was going for a different kind of costume. With an old fashioned top hat on his head and a pair of goggles on his forehead, coupled with the cane on his arm and the tuxedo he was wearing, made him look like a steampunk inventor.

On the smaller stage, Fredbear was setting up a table with a crystal ball. He had removed his eyes and painted a stylized third eye on his forehead, the better to emphasize the effect. He was going to be a 'blind' fortune teller. Also on the small stage was Spring, who had a black cape with a red silk lining, and had put fangs in his mouth to accentuate the vampire costume.

As soon as Vincent entered the room, Spring ran across the room to meet him. "Hi Vince. Um. Do you know what that thing was?"

"Nightmare." Was Vincent's quick answer. "I need to talk to Marion, you know where she is?"

"Yeah, Prize Corner." Spring pointed. "She's prepping her costume right now. What do you mean it was Nightmare?"

"The thing got out of my head somehow, and now it's walking around the city." Vincent replied, quickly changing course to head to the Prize Corner. "What did the others think it was?"

"Jeremy." Spring answered quickly.

"Well, guess that's what I get for not saying what my costume is…" The redhead muttered, still following behind.

"What is your costume, anyways?" Spring asked, shooting Jeremy a questioning glance.

"I was going to morph into Springtrap, you know, for the horror attraction." Jeremy huffed, giving Vincent a quick glance to see his reaction.

Vincent could frankly care less. Being Springtrap may have been a living nightmare, but it was one that was in the past now. "Hmm, well I think Charley had a plan for making a 'Fazbear's Fright' section, but it relied upon the brothers to get their act together and make extradimensional space."

That was, after all, the point of Halloween. Freddy's had a horrible past, but trying to hide that fact would only make those who learned about it even angrier. So Mike had upped the security to eleven, meaning that the only danger someone could get into was with other guests. That didn't mean that the Halloween attraction was going to _look_ safe. Instead, it was going to be as creepy and unnerving as possible. The Toy Stage was off-limits for the normal guests tonight, and the back door had been opened and set up to look like a haunted house. Vincent, Charley, Fritz, and Jeremy would be manning it, along with some help from Shane and Sean. Now that Nightmare had stepped out the front door, however, that plan was probably out the window.

The trio entered the Prize Corner. Directly to the right was Billy's chair, where he made balloons for anyone who entered the room. He was absent at the moment, as was Vix, meaning that the only person in the room was the Puppet.

When she was the Puppet, anyways.

Whereas the other spirits were bound to their animatronic bodies more or less irreversibly, Marion was free to leave her cloth and wire host in order to manifest as a nearly living person. Nearly because she could eat, sleep, and was solid, but she didn't breathe and her heart didn't beat.

Right now, however, she was using the Puppet as her body. With a tuxedo she had designed herself and a featureless mask she placed on her face, she pulled off the Slenderman look quite well.

"Marion, we have a problem." Vincent announced.

The tall puppet turned around, her face replaced by a plain white one. She quickly reached up with a three-fingered hand and removed it, revealing her normal tear-stained face. "What's wrong?"

Vincent blinked. He still wasn't used to the Puppet's vibrant purple eyes, or to the change between the Puppet's emotionless voice and Marion's more normal one. "Um. Nightmare's free."

"Free… how?" The Puppet asked, raising an eye ridge. "Nightmare was caught in its own trap. There's no way for it to escape until it dies, and that won't happen until your own soul leaves the world. Since you're still here, how could it get out?"

"Hell if I know, you're the most experienced magic user here." Vincent began to pace back and forth. He stopped suddenly. "It said something about bindings on Halloween. Do you know anything about that?"

"Maybe…" The Puppet rested her chin on her hand. "I do seem stronger around Halloween, and it is the time of year that is notorious for spirits roaming, especially ones that should not be. It could be that no magical bindings work on this day."

"So, what? Are all the ghosts in the city just going to be zipping around?" Jeremy asked, tapping his chin. "And if so…"

"Jeremy Fitzgerald, what are you insinuating?" The Puppet glared at Jeremy, causing the redhead to cringe back. Nobody could command the respect of the other spirits like Marion.

"Well…" Jeremy spread his hands. "If limits are off, what's to stop me from going after Nightmare?"

"That's…" The Puppet began, then stopped. "Actually a good idea."

"I have good ideas sometimes." Jeremy confessed with a grin. "Especially when it comes to dream demons."

"But shouldn't I go after it?" Vincent raised an eyebrow.

"No." Spring was the one who spoke then, shaking his head.

"Why not…?"

"Charley still doesn't know about you." Spring explained. "And you're an employee who was seen today. Jeremy isn't. You need to be here, but he doesn't."

"Spring is right." The Puppet added. "Someone might notice if you left the building."

"But having him leave won't cause any fuss." Vincent finished, nodding. "Makes sense. Just bring back some candy. Chica's treats will only last so long."

"Gotcha." Jeremy grinned and changed shape, shrinking down several inches and gaining a fox onesie. "Man I've missed trick-or-treating. See you guys at dawn."

The ghost winked, then turned and walked through a wall before the others could react. The Puppet blinked a couple times, then shrugged. "He'll locate Nightmare. It gives off a rather bizarre signal, and Jeremy's specialty is signals. In any event, I think Mike wanted you in his office, Vincent."

"Right. Going to see the boss then." Vincent glanced at the wall that Jeremy had walked out through, then turned and left the Prize Corner.

* * *

"Hey man, nice costume!"

 **Thank you.**

"Wow, that's creepy. Well done!"

 **I take pride in my work.**

"How'd you make that thing?"

 **Time, effort, and a lot of hot-glue.**

Nightmare was happy. Very, very happy. It wasn't an emotion it experienced often, mostly because its base state of being was one of irritation. Mortals were short-sighted and stupid, they didn't understand how existence worked. But on all-hallows eve, they appreciated his work properly. That wasn't even considering the vague, bubbling feeling that the night gave him. It made him feel like he didn't need to be serious, and that was wonderful.

The demonic creature sauntered down the street, occasionally nodding at a passing human as they gazed at its terrifying appearance. Halloween meant that it could basically go where it wished without repercussions.

And it loved it.

Something caught Nightmare's eye, and the immortal grinned. It changed direction, heading towards the forest.

* * *

 _Tap, tap._

Vincent leaned into Mike's office. "You asked for me?"

Mike looked up from his paperwork. He had donned a top-hat and suit, as well as putting a pair of bear-ears atop his head. The owner of the pizzeria was going as Freddy. "Ah yes, I need you to retrieve some things from the basement. Chica's running out of supplies, so you need to grab a couple crates from the freezer."

"Why do I have to do it?" Vincent whined.

"Because you do not have the abilities that the animatronics do." Mike looked back down at his desk, finishing a signature. "If you're wondering about the other humans, Percy can't carry them, Charley isn't here yet. Mark has the night off, and Fritz, despite appearances, is not anywhere near as strong as you."

"What about you?" Vincent asked. He took one look at Mike's expression, then raised a finger. "Got it. Work. I'll be off then."

Vincent walked off, muttering to himself. Mike looked at his watch and started counting in his head.

The pale man stepped back into the room. "Um, how do you get to the basement again?"

"Ten." Mike muttered. "There's a stairway in the kitchen, next to the freezers. There's a trapdoor in the staff lounge, and there's an outside entrance. I suggest you use the kitchen."

Mike started counting again as soon as Vincent dashed off.

"What did you need me to get, exactly?" Vincent said, peeking back into the room.

"Five." Mike muttered to himself, grabbing a sticky note he had prepared. "The stuff on this list."

"Gotcha." Vincent snatched the note and sped off again, careening through the hallway to the kitchen. He nearly bumped into Chica on his way through, but with a hurried apology he stumbled down the stairs, taking a quick tumble and landing face first on the basement floor.

He groaned and pushed himself to his feet, looking around. After a couple blinks, his eyes adjusted to the gloom. The freezers were somewhere, although he couldn't see them as of yet.

"What do you think you're doing here?" Mike's voice echoed through the basement.

"Mike?" Vincent said in surprise. "What are _you_ doing down here? You sent me down here, after all."

There was silence for a few moments, accompanied in part by the quiet shifting of machinery. A single blue eye lit up in the darkness, and a white face moved into Vincent's view. The red nose stood out, but even more so Vincent noted the fact that it was segmented, with portions of it moving loosely.

"Are you a friend of Mister Mike?" The face asked, its voice changing to that of a young woman or girl.

"Who the hell are you?" Vincent's eyes narrowed.

The creature stepped forwards, its large frame coming into Vincent's view. Tubes of metal twined around its broad shoulders, with frayed wires poking out of the end of each tube. Its long arms ended in three-fingered hands, each finger being a large tube with several smaller ones inside. The broad chest clearly had a lot of machinery in it, as well as a single red button. "Our name is Ennard. We're friends with Mister Mike. He got us out of the place we were trapped. He saved us."

"And what is us?" Vincent circled the animatronic slowly.

"We are: Circus Baby" The animatronic's voice became deeper and more melodic. "Ballora" The voice became higher and grating. "Funtime Freddy" Its voice changed to static for a moment, then returned to the one that had identified itself as Baby. "Our last name is Funtime Foxy, but they do not have a voice. We are four, in one body. We used to be five, but the fifth left. She moved on. She no longer belonged in the world. You never did tell us. Are you a friend of Mister Mike?"

"If by Mister Mike, you mean Mike Schmidt, then yeah. We're friends. He sorta brought me out of a dark place, and in return I've been living in his home." Vincent answered.

"That seems… like what happened to us." Ennard sat down on a crate. It looked down at its three fingered hands for a moment, then snapped his gaze back up at him. "We can make balloons. Do you want to see?"

"Not right now. I need to get a few things from the freezer." Vincent slowly backed away from the skeletal robot. "Then I'll just be out of your hair…"

"We know where the freezer is. We've been exploring. We know where everything is." Ennard stood up and gestured for Vincent to follow it. "The freezers are this way."

Ennard walked off into the darkness, its lone eye lighting the way in front of it. Saying that it had only the one eye was inaccurate, but it was clearly the only eye that worked. There were inactive and disconnected eyes all over the machine's body, but only the solitary blue eye behinds its mask worked.

After a moment of hesitation, Vincent followed. Ennard's gait was awkward and stuttering, but it was surprisingly fast. If Vincent wasn't who he was, there was no way he could've kept up. Not that Ennard wanted to lose him, it frequently looked back to make sure he was following.

It wasn't long before they reached the large metal doors of the freezers. Ennard grabbed the heavy metal handle of the door and heaved it open, hitting Vincent with a blast of cold air. He shivered a bit, but continued into the freezer.

Vincent looked down at the list in his hand. It was lucky that the freezer had lights inside, otherwise he wouldn't be able to read it. Confectionary chocolate, ice cream, and butter were among the things on the list.

The freezer door slowly ground shut behind him.

Vincent whirled and pushed on the door, using his whole weight to try and push it open. The door refused to budge. "Ennard? What's going on?"

The voice that had identified itself as Ballora spoke. "We saw the blood on your uniform. Did you think us foolish enough to trust a man who has clearly shed blood recently?"

The pale man looked down at himself, then cursed. "It's Halloween! I'm in costume!"

"Is it Halloween?"

"Of course it's Halloween! It's October first!"

"He isn't lying. He is in costume."

"I still do not trust him."

 _Fsshh-zzrrrt_

"See! Foxy agrees."

"We will let him out. We have decided."

With a click, the freezer door opened. Ennard stood there, its eye looking at Vincent apologetically. "We are sorry. We've had a bad experience with death."

"Yeah, well, who hasn't." Vincent muttered. He looked at the boxes that he was supposed to carry. "How about this, you help me carry these things up to the kitchen, and we never talk about the freezer incident."

"Agreed." Ennard said curtly, walking into the freezer.

Vincent pointed out the crates that Mike needed, and the towering machine picked up two of the three. Its mechanical strength was more than enough to lift the crates with ease. After a moment, Vincent walked over to the third crate and lifted it, grunting with the effort. He could tell that other humans would have a nigh-impossible time with this, save Mike, but Vincent had always been abnormally strong, even more so than ever since Nightmare had infused him with magic to try and make him a better vessel.

It didn't make the fact that it was heavy any less real.

"Alright, let's go." Vincent grunted, leading Ennard to the staircase.

All the while, Vincent was just wondering how the others would react.

* * *

"Aren't you a little _old_ to be trick-or-treating?" The man asked, looking down at Jeremy.

Jeremy had figured that, since he was allowed out of the pizzeria without supervision, he might as well profit from it. The problem was, every house he had gone to at this point had turned him away for being 'too old to be trick-or-treating'. But that was nonsense, he looked like a twelve-year-old. And there was his rather infantile costume as well. A fox onesie wouldn't normally cause someone to think 'hey, that kid should be doing something more productive than begging for candy'.

Turning and walking away, Jeremy muttered under his breath. "You have no idea."

With a sigh, Jeremy walked into an alley and began to orient on Nightmare's signal.

"Immortal entity, glows like a magical beacon, and radiates dark energy. How hard could it…" Jeremy created a map out of magic, with the matching signals marked in red. "Be."

There were hundreds of matching signals.

"Well crud." Jeremy looked at the map. "Why are there so _many_?"

After staring at the crowded map for a moment, Jeremy dismissed it.

"Welp. Let's start with the ones actually in the city…" Jeremy muttered, removing his physical form and becoming ethereal.

With his physical limitations shed, Jeremy flew through the city. There were a couple glances at him from random bystanders, but Jeremy figured that they wouldn't really pay attention to a wispy figure on Halloween. They'd either pass it off as fog, a low-hanging cloud, or a very elaborate decoration.

The city looked very different from above, especially with sources of magic lit up. There were dots all over, marking either the magically gifted humans, or the abundant spirits that were set free with the coming of Halloween. There was one place that glowed more than any other spot in the city, and Jeremy was happy to note that it was Freddy's Pizzeria.

But there was another spot that had almost as much glow, even if there were fewer individual sources.

And, right on the outskirts, was a signal that matched Nightmare.

After confirming that it was Nightmare, or at least the same kind of creature, Jeremy descended. He was careful to remain incorporeal and invisible, but invisibility had already proven useless on Halloween. Jeremy touched down in an alley next to the building.

"Museum right there… wonder what this old building is…" Jeremy said to himself, tapping the brick wall.

 **This 'old building' holds a power you could not possibly comprehend.**

From between the bricks, tendrils of black fog began to leak out of the mortar. The thick mist was clawing its way through the air towards Jeremy, forming into a roughly humanoid form with two ice-blue lights in the head.

"What the hell are you?" Jeremy asked, backing away "You certainly aren't Nightmare, it has red eyes."

 **Phobos? That fool? No. I am not the one who is currently known as Nightmare.** The shadowy apparition walked closer, and Jeremy could see a human skeleton hidden under the billowing darkness. **I am far stronger, especially now that my once-partner is shackled.**

With a lightning quick movement, the walking skeleton hurled a tendril of darkness at Jeremy wrapping it around the ghost. It tugged, pulling Jeremy closer, and giving the ghost a good view of the void within the cowl-like head of the monster.

 **You are rather strong. You will make a good meal…**

 **Oh for crying out loud Deimos, you do this every time.**

A burst of magical energy hit 'Deimos', causing the dark creature to lose its grip on Jeremy. The skeletal creature hissed angrily, glaring at the newcomer. **Really Nightmare? You seek once more to steal from me what is mine?**

 **Every gods-forsaken Halloween you do this. Lighten up already!** Nightmare replied, appearing behind Jeremy with one arm wrapped around the ghost's shoulders. **It's the time of ghouls and ghosts! Wraiths and phantoms! Shades and spirits! But every time, you just go and try to find a new victim!**

 **I do so to gain an edge, Phobos. You should understand why it is so important to get ahead.** Deimos spat, its body dissipating once more.

 **Not on all-hallows eve. Tonight is sacred.** Nightmare made a disgusted sound and looked down at Jeremy. **In any event, how are you doing tonight Jere-bear?**

Jeremy glanced at Deimos, only to find that the creature was gone. "Don't call me that. Please."

 **Doesn't like cute nickname. Noted. Gotta tell the others about that.** Nightmare chuckled. **Come with me. I have something to show you…**

* * *

" _What?!_ "

"Please just calm down." Vincent sighed. "Look, I already told you, they're normal people like you or me, just not alive. They've been transformed by Nightmare too, so they look like… that. You accepted Ennard, how hard is it to accept them?"

"Ennard hasn't _killed people_." Bonnie seethed.

"Not… entirely true." Mike muttered under his breath, patting Bonnie on the shoulder. "In any case, Vincent has done far worse than any of them. He's a member of the family now, isn't he?"

 ** _Excuse me, Mr. Schmidt, but that's not entirely true. It's my fault that Vincent killed anyone in the first place, so I am to blame._**

 ** _Ignore the old man, I'm worse. I hijacked all of you robots and nearly killed Mike. If you're going to blame anyone, blame me._**

"Never thought I'd see the day that my former boss and my ex-best friend argue over who should be hated more." Vincent sighed again. "Alright, enough, enough. If we're going to hate on anyone, it's Nightmare. Now, we have ten more assistants for the horror show side of the pizzeria, me, Charley, the shadow brothers, and Ennard. We've got a better lineup than we initially planned, even if Shane and Sean are arguing over the validity of a whoopee cushion as a prank. The only problem _I_ see, is what the hell do we tell Charley?"

There was a moment of silence, then Mike spoke. "First: not we, I. Second: the truth."

"Is that a good idea though?" Vincent asked.

"Probably not, but he's earned the information." Mike checked his watch. "In any event, Vincent, get the Nightmares to the horror attraction. I'll brief Charley when he gets here."

* * *

"Where are we going?!" Jeremy asked for the fifth time. Nightmare was certainly different from how it usually was, being jovial and upbeat instead of cruel and manipulative.

 **The best place for any spirit to be on this night.** Nightmare replied, leading Jeremy into the forest. **A party that lasts for one night only, that we may compare our rankings.**

"Rankings?" Jeremy looked around the dark forest. It was nearly impossible for him to see, even with magic at his disposal.

 **Look at it like this.** Nightmare grabbed Jeremy's shoulder and turned the ghost towards itself. **You are bored, so bored, and there is nothing for you to do. You cannot die, so your boredom is eternal. You are powerful, so nothing holds challenge for you. You do not even truly need to eat or drink, no need to work, no need or drive to do anything. That is how my species feels.**

"That's… horrible," Jeremy said. "How do you keep yourself from going insane?"

 **We play games.** Nightmare answered simply. **We compete with each other, to see who can gain the most influence over the world. We consume fear, so our methods naturally follow that. We scare mortals in any way we can. Since we have existed since the dawn of humanity, we've had a lot of time to specialize. Tonight is the single night of the year that all of our species can gather in one place to compare tactics and power. The only night that any of us will tolerate the close presence of another.**

 **Anyways, the party's just ahead.**

Nightmare continued walking going straight for a giant tree that Jeremy could swear wasn't in the forest normally. The semi-mechanical monster reached out and plunged its clawed hands into the tree, burying them up to the wrist. Then it twisted its arms, ripping a clean section out of the tree to reveal a surprisingly well-lit area ahead. Nightmare stepped through, then gestured for Jeremy to follow.

It didn't take long for one of the partygoers to notice the newcomers, and a robed figure walked over. With tentacles spilling out of the cowl, and slimy green hands holding a plastic cup, Jeremy wasn't sure what to make of it. The creature then spoke in a watery voice.

-Ah, Nightmare. A pleasure to see you again-

 **How's it going _ _ _ _ _ _?**

-Things could be better, but I'm gaining more followers daily. Humans are weird-

 **Tell me about it.** Nightmare chuckled at the other creature. **Jeremy, this is _ _ _ _ _ _, also known as it that shall not be named.**

-Call me Harold- The creature raised its cup in greeting.

 **Harold here created an entire religion centered around a tentacle creature from outer space.** Nightmare said. **What was that writer guy's name again?**

-Lovecraft. Man, planting those ideas in his head was the best idea I've ever had. Means I've got a bunch of people who worship me- Harold laughed, a strange gurgling sound. –So who's this, Phobos?-

 **A friend of mine. Sure, he's a ghost, but he's a damn good person.** Nightmare grinned. **Isn't that right Jeremy?**

"Um." Jeremy stuttered.

-Well, if you're sponsoring him, I don't think the others can object- Harold shrugged. –At least, as long as he doesn't act like Deimos. What name has that angry bastard taken recently?-

 **I don't know. It hasn't talked to me for centuries.** Nightmare shrugged. **How're Slender and Mothman doing?**

-Well, Slendy's our host tonight. Yeah, surprised me too. As for Mothballs, he's wasted over in the corner. Keeps trying to seduce the others, but since we're a genderless species the only ones who are responding are the ones that are playing with him- Harold shook his head. –Then we've got Herobrine, who thinks that because he scares a bunch of two year olds he's actually good at his job. He's running the videogame competition. The Jersey Devil has been killing it at darts, Kappa keeps winning the swim races, and Isolation has eaten all of the cookies but one. Keeps saying that it'll give in to the darkness-

 **So just like last year then?**

-More or less. See ya Nightmare. There's a deviled egg with my name on it. Unless Isolation decides to go get those-

The robed creature walked off, heading in the direction of a long table with all sorts of food arrayed on it. At one end, a slender, long-fingered creature was standing over a lone cookie, staring at it with an almost hungry gaze. It only looked away when a moving tree thumped it upside the head.

Nightmare glanced at Jeremy. **You're probably confused.**

"You don't say." Jeremy muttered, looking around the area. There were dozens, maybe a hundred creatures crowding the massive clearing, each one different from the others. As he watched, a creature made of cubes produced a computer from its pocket, then put it on a table.

 **Our species is extraordinarily varied. We CAN shapeshift, after all.** Nightmare walked over to a nearby table and picked up a plastic cup. **And Harold was just referring to their current names. There are innumerable members of our species who have no name at all, due to being too weak to do more than cause chills. I used to be known as Phobos, god of fear. Slenderman, as you know him, was once the forest darkness. Before inspiring madness in an author, Harold was simply a minor fear of tentacle creatures. Isolation has always been a weirdo, though.**

Jeremy glanced back at the table, where the slender creature was picking up all of the canapes and stuffing them into its pockets. "I can tell."

* * *

"Let's go over this again. Connor, you will chase the visitors through the attraction. Don't actually catch them, just go fast enough to make them run. Aaron, you rattle the cages, act like a feral animal. Vi, your job is to look out of the shadows and scare the crap out of people. Paul, you're on map duty, make sure we all know where the visitors are. Tali, use your voice mimicking skill to emulate the visitors when they travel in groups, or even singly. Make them think that they're muttering to themselves. You and Azure need to stick to the ceiling, make quiet but noticeable noises. Matt, make sure that they don't stop. If they do, give them a little scare. Tony, Franklin, use your powers to create special effects. Shane, Sean, I swear to god if you screw this up I'll find a way to make you pay for it. Otherwise, just make sure we have the extradimensional space. Ennard, you'll be running the electronics. Charley…"

Vincent stopped, staring at the blonde man. "What are you wearing?"

Charley looked down at himself, then back up at Vincent. "An old Freddy Fazbear's security uniform. Also fake blood and a plastic knife."

"You were going as me, weren't you." Vincent stated more than asked.

"Well, technically I was going as the murderer, but that was before I learned that you were the murderer," Charley explained. "Now that I know you're the murderer..."

"Yeah. Got it. You're gonna have to run the thing behind the scenes now."

 ** _Vincent, what will I be doing?_** Barry asked, raising his hand.

"You," Vincent said with a grin. "Will be my 'victim.'"

Just then, an alarm triggered, letting them know that their time to prepare was over.

"Places everyone!" Vincent said, walking to his position.

It was time to show the world just how scary Freddy Fazbear's could be.

* * *

Darius looked down at his phone again, sighing at the most recent text message he had received from Terry. They had been texting back and forth for the past half an hour now, but they hadn't really reached an agreement. Darius scrolled back up to the start of the conversation to read it again.

T: Hey.

D: Hey.

T: So, uh, happy Halloween?

D: What, you stuck at college for this year?

T: Yeah… It's all the classes I'm taking. Sry. I'll be able to be there next year tho.

D: It's cool. Just make sure to enjoy yourself.

T: I'll eat a ton of licorice for ya.

D: Ew. Hate licorice.

T: Exactly.

T: So what're you doing for Halloween?

D: You know Freddy Fazbear's Pizza?

T: Ya, why?

D: They're hosting a horror attraction.

T: Do it.

D: Meh.

T: What, you scared of a kid's pizzeria?

Darius sighed. Then typed in his answer.

D: Fine. I'll do it.

After a couple seconds, the phone dinged.

T: Call me back when you get out.

Darius put his phone back in his pocket and looked up at the entrance to the building. He knew that this was just a side entrance that was usually for employees, but it had been transformed in purpose and form. Now the entire side of the building looked like some sort of haunted mansion.

With a heavy sigh, Darius walked in.

The atmosphere changed immediately, becoming oppressive and brooding. Darius could almost taste the tension in the air.

He shivered, then continued on.

He didn't have to walk far before there were sounds audible around him. The sounds of movement, like hundreds of little legs scuttling around. Darius wasn't afraid of bugs, but that didn't mean he wanted one to fall on his head. He quickly glanced up, but the ceiling was impossibly far up and well out of view. Which meant, due to the distance, that the scuttling was something much larger than an insect…

The young man shuddered, but carried on.

 ** _Well hello there… Not often people come to visit me._**

A decaying arm shot out of the shadows, only to stop as its attached shoulder hit the grate fencing that made up the walls. The claws on the arm were just inches away from Darius' skin, causing him to leap backwards and turn towards the creature in the shadows. All he could see was the rotting blue skin and two luminous indigo eyes.

"Wh-what the hell?" Darius muttered to himself, backpedaling until his back hit the other grate wall.

 ** _I'm the friendly one._** The blue-skinned monster pouted. **_We just want some company, but she's the one you want to look out for._**

Two massive hands grabbed hold of Darius' shoulders, holding him tight against the grate wall. He could feel the sharp points resting just on his skin, not quite digging in enough to cause pain but clearly there.

 ** _Oh hello sweetie!_** A feminine voice from directly behind Darius spoke. **_So good of you to drop by for a meal._**

Darius ripped out of the monster's grip, catching a glimpse of a solitary red eye as he dashed away. He passed multiple other monstrous creatures as he ran, from a towering skeletal monster with two glowing white eyes, to a massive bear with huge spikes for teeth. Darius ran from it all, trying desperately to escape.

He didn't stop until he came to a door, which he promptly ripped open and ducked inside.

Only after slamming the door behind him did Darius breathe.

"Good. Another one."

Darius felt like his heart had stopped upon hearing another human being speak. He turned away from the door and looked at the other man in the room. "Look man, I dunno what those things are but I want nothing to do with them. We gotta run."

"What things?" The man asked, picking up an implement and examining it. "The ones outside? Those would be my doing."

"What?" Darius blinked, taking in the room.

It was sparse, with only a table for furniture. On the table were a variety of sharp tools, including an impressive array of knives. The concrete floor looked like someone had taken a bucket of dark red paint and spilled it.

And, in the middle of the room, was a child's corpse.

"Oh, I made them. You'd be amazed what you can do with human flesh." The man remarked. He was so, so pale. And his eyes were incredibly unsettling. It felt like he was staring through your soul. "It stretches, it holds; but in the end it always decays."

The man raised the knife in his hand and grinned insanely. "I think you'll make a good addition to the family…"

Behind Darius, something pounded on the door, causing him to stumble forwards and nearly crash into the crazy man with the knife.

The pale man's grin dropped, replaced by a look of despair. "We need to run. That one isn't too happy…"

 ** _I'm comin' for you…_** The door thudded again, then again. With a splintering of wood, it slammed open to reveal a red-skinned, rotting monster. Its amber eyes immediately locked on to the humans. **_Found ye._**

"Run!" The murderer shouted, dragging Darius through the door on the other side of the room.

The room that they entered was almost as bad as the previous one, with blood on the walls and floor and flickering arcade machines. The murderer immediately pushed against one of the walls, causing it to shift slightly.

"No, no, no!" The pale man screamed, slamming on the wall with all his strength. "It's stuck!"

Those grey eyes darted around the room, locking first on Darius, then on a humanoid rabbit suit in the corner.

"It can have you." The man spat the last word, reaching out and shoving Darius towards the door. "I'm hiding."

With a speed that was available only to the desperate, the pale man dashed over to the rabbit suit and began to disassemble the back. He climbed in, locking the whole thing shut.

Just a fraction of a second later, the red skinned monster kicked the door down, looking around the room. It scanned over Darius without hesitation, but focused instead on the rotting rabbit suit. **_I've found you…_**

Darius pressed himself against the moving wall, hoping against hope that it would shift enough for him to escape.

Meanwhile, the man in the rabbit suit started screaming as the whole suit jerked. It looked like something inside the suit was stabbing into him, causing red fluid to leak all over the floor as the grey eyes looking out of the rabbit's head went lifeless.

The hidden door finally swung open, and Darius ran out without a glance behind. He slammed the exit door open and breathed in deeply, savoring the normal air again. With shaking hands, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, slowly tapping out a message.

D: Never ask me to do that again

* * *

Vincent climbed out of the false Springtrap suit and looked down at it, shaking his head. Fritz had saved Springtrap's suit, even if he had removed all the inner workings. Now the only thing in it was a mechanism to dispense fake blood.

He glanced at his watch and sighed in relief. 3:00. The night was over with.

After stretching, Vincent walked out of the final room of the attraction and made his way to the connecting hallway. The others had already gone to the main party, but that was over now too. It was Vincent's favorite part of the night: when he got to be by himself.

Vincent entered the main party area to find that, to his surprise, Nightmare and Jeremy had returned. The shadow creature was lecturing its underlings on something, while Jeremy was sitting in a corner and shivering.

With a shrug, Vincent walked over to Jeremy.

"How'd it go?"

Jeremy looked up at Vincent with empty eyes. "I was sexually harassed by a humanoid moth…"

 **Ah! Vincent! So good to see you!** Nightmare broke off its lecture and walked over. **Don't mind Jeremy, the party was a blast. Literally, seeing as Chaos decided to end it early.**

"Vincent," Jeremy said, "If Nightmare ever offers to introduce its friends to you… turn it down."

"Noted," Vincent replied, turning his gaze to Nightmare. "Are you done causing mass mayhem tonight?"

 **Oh yes. It was quite enjoyable. Up until all Hell broke loose.** Nightmare paused. **Trust me when I tell you that demons are not good party guests, even when compared to the incarnations of fear.**

"Okay then…" Vincent blinked. "Just… don't do it again."

 **Don't worry Vincent.** Nightmare raised its clawed hand to where its heart would be, if it had one. **I won't do it again.**

"Good enough for me." The pale man muttered. He turned and walked off, heading to the staff lounge and his bed.

 **Until next year, of course.**

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Happy Halloween everyone!**

 **So, seeing as it's Halloween, I figured I'd give you all a story that fits right into the Ghost Magics universe. I came up with the idea that Nightmare acts differently on Halloween, as well as following the belief that all spirits roam the world on this night. After that, well, we got this.**

 **As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


	4. Happiest Day

**Canon**

 **After A Second Chance**

* * *

November twenty first.

A mostly inconspicuous date. Sometimes it landed close to Thanksgiving, sometimes not. In any event, the day held no significance for a lot of people. It was just another day of the month, after all.

Not so for Vincent.

For him, it was the day that hell had broken loose on his life.

On November twenty first, 1965. Vincent's life was ruined. A drunkard with a death wish had careened through the streets in his car. The man had hit several cars, knocking many of them off the road and causing one particular child to be paralyzed from the waist down. While the drunk man had come to a quite final stop at a tree, he had managed to total one vehicle. Said vehicle happened to be the one that Vincent's family was in. The only survivors were a five-year old Vincent, and his younger brother Marcus.

November 21, 1967. The orphanage that Vincent and Marcus had found asylum in had shut down due to the caretakers' negligence. The Tollini brothers wound up on the streets.

November 21, 1978. Vincent Tollini made a drug run for a man named Antonio Veron just four months prior, during which he accidentally killed a little girl with brilliant violet eyes. One month ago, a burly man had threatened Marcus with a knife. Needless to say, Vincent took drastic measures that ended with the man's knife embedded in his jugular. On the twenty first, however, Vincent obtained a job with Antonio Veron. A permanent one. One that led to a continual downward spiral for Vincent Tollini.

In 1987, Vincent learned that ghosts were very much real, and that they were the reason the animatronics went haywire.

In 1993, Freddy Fazbear's Pizza closed for the last time, causing Vincent no end of frustration as he tried to persuade the miserly owner of the franchise to give him the old Fredbear suit, for old times' sake.

In 1994, Vincent died.

For Vincent Tollini, the twenty first day of the eleventh month had a horrible reputation.

Which was why, on that particular day in the year 2010, he was overly cautious.

Vincent had taken care to avoid doing anything that would turn this day into a repeat of all the previous experiences.

At first, all was normal. The kids were enjoying themselves thanks to their day off of school, the animatronics were having a blast playing with and entertaining the children. It seemed like everything was normal.

Up until they closed for the day, and everyone vanished.

"Guys?" Vincent shouted, trying to locate the animatronics, "Where are you?"

 **They've decided that you're too much of a problem, and have abandoned ship.** Nightmare said scathingly. **Obviously.**

"Very funny, smartass." Vincent would've smacked Nightmare, if doing so didn't require extradimensional powers. "How about being useful for once."

 **Vincent! I'm wounded, truly!** Nightmare manifested itself in the corner of Vincent's vision, taking on the form of a demonic creature with glowing red eyes and massive claws. The creature placed an oversized hand over where its heart would be, if it had one. **I've done nothing but help, and here you are insulting me. Clearly I need a better PR manager.**

"Cut the theatrics," Vincent muttered.

 **Fine. Be that way. Check the basement.** Nightmare's manifestation vanished, then reappeared by the kitchen door.

"Are they in there…?" Vincent asked.

 **Hell if I know. It's just the first place I would look.** Nightmare shrugged, the dissipated into wisps of shadow.

"As useless as ever…" Vincent pushed open the kitchen door and looked around. The kitchen was oddly empty today, usually Chica would be in here preparing food for the next day. Over by the freezers was the stairway down to the basement, which Vincent immediately started towards.

As soon as he was down the stairs, the trapdoor slammed shut, and the lock clicked.

 **Whoops. Butterfingers.** Nightmare's red eyes appeared in the darkness. **My mistake.**

"How the hell did you-" Vincent started, then stopped. "You used my magic."

 **Guilty as charged.** Nightmare grinned.

"Why though?" Vincent stumbled up the stairs, walking through Nightmare along the way. He felt along the trapdoor until he located the lock, then started digging through his pockets for something he never left his room without.

 **Spring's idea, really. He said that-** Nightmare cut itself off. **Damn. Nearly spilled the beans.**

Vincent finally located his master key and fumbled with the lock, trying to figure out how the key was supposed to be oriented. "Spilled the beans on what?"

 **Nothing. Nothing.** Nightmare said. **Just know that I'll be stuck with you, even if the others do, in fact, leave you behind.**

Vincent froze, the key slipping from his hand. "What?"

 **Forget I said anything. Just the ramblings of an ancient entity.** Nightmare dismissed what it said. **You may wish to try the lock picks.**

"Every year, on this god-forsaken day. Every goddamn year…" Vincent muttered as he grabbed his lock picking kit from his other pocket. "Every year, life decides to screw me over. First my parents die, then I'm stuck on the streets. Next thing you know, I'm dead."

Nightmare didn't seem to have a snarky response this time. In fact, it didn't have any response. Nightmare had gone uncharacteristically silent.

 _Click_

The trapdoor's lock opened of its own accord, and Vincent pushed up through the door. Despite the light now flooding into the basement, Nightmare was still nowhere to be found.

"Not really my problem." Vincent muttered. The pale man walked out of the kitchen just in time to see a pitch black figure vanish into the Prize Corner. With a question on his lips, Vincent walked into the room that was the center of the pizzeria.

Immediately, the sound of 'pop goes the weasel' played through the room, and the lid of the Puppet's box began to open. Vincent cautiously approached, taking slow, silent steps until he reached the box. When he reached the box, he peered over the edge, expecting the Puppet to jump out at any moment.

Instead, there was a present. A white box with a violet ribbon wrapping around the sides and tied into a bow at the top.

And a tag.

For: Vincent Tollini

From: Your family

"What the…?" Vincent reached down and picked the box up, weighing it mentally. It wasn't heavy, but there was definitely something inside.

"Happy Birthday, Vince."

Vincent turned around, and a look of surprise appeared on his face. They were all here, having left whatever hiding spots they were in. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, Fredbear, Spring, Billy, Vix, Tia, Ben, Theodore, Mike, Percy, Fritz, and…

Marion, having shed her puppet body and standing directly in front of him. She held out a cake and smiled. "Make a wish."

"How did you know…?" Vincent asked, looking down at the box in his hands and then back up at the others.

"Your birth date was in the old records, back when Robert Godwin owned the company." Mike answered.

"And I told them." Spring raised his hand. "I didn't expect Nightmare to lock you in the basement. I just wanted it to stall for time."

"So you -all of you- planned this? For me?" Vincent was stunned. "Why?"

"Because you're a part of the family, Vincent," Marion said, "You're our murderer, but also our protector. Open the box, Vincent. It has something that I'm sure you'll love."

Vincent looked down at the box in his hands and slowly began to undo the ribbons. His deft fingers removed the lid, and he smiled.

"This is probably the best birthday I've had. Ever."

* * *

 **Just a short chapter to celebrate Vincent's thirty-fifth birthday. Or Fifty-first. I dunno how it works, what with the whole 'being dead' thing.**

 **I would just like to remind everyone that this is an AU, and as such does not follow the FNaF canon. It definitely has its roots in the canon of Five Nights at Freddy's, but it has and will take major detours from the canon.**

 **Now, thank you all for reading. Please leave a review to let me know what you think.**

 **Now read on!**


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